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Age81
Birthday 20 March, 1943
Birthplace Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Height 5' 6" (168 cm)
Eye Color Blue
Hair Color Blonde
Zodiac Sign Pisces
Nationality American
Occupation Poet
Claim to Fame Poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist. Former assistant to artist Andy Warhol.
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Gerard Malanga Actor - Born 20 March 1943 · Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Birth name Gerard Joseph Malanga

Height 5′ 6½″ (1.69 m)

Biography Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.

Malanga was born in the Bronx in 1943. He graduated from high school with a major in Advertising Design (1960). He enrolled at the University of Cincinnati's College of Art & Design (1960), and in the fall of 1961, Malanga was admitted to Wagner College in Staten Island. In June 1963, he went to work for Andy Warhol as "a summer job that lasted seven years," as he likes to put it. Malanga dropped out of Wagner College in 1964, freeing him up to work for Warhol full-time.

Gerard Malanga worked closely for Andy Warhol during Warhol's most creative period, from 1963 to 1970. A February 17, 1992 article in The New York Times referred to him as "Andy Warhol's most important associate."

Malanga was involved in all phases of Warhol's creative output in silkscreen painting and film making. He acted in many of the early Warhol films, including Kiss (1963), Harlot (1964), Soap Opera (1964), Couch (1964), Vinyl (1965), Camp (1965), Chelsea Girls (1966); and co-produced Bufferin (1967) in which he reads his poetry, deemed to be the longest spoken-word movie on record at 33-minutes nonstop. In 1966, he choreographed the music of the Velvet Underground for Warhol's multimedia presentation, The Exploding Plastic Inevitable. In 1969, Malanga was one of the founding editors, along with Warhol and John Wilcock, of Interview magazine.

Malanga and Warhol collaborated on the nearly five-hundred individual 3-minute "Screen Tests," by virtue of their collaboration with the motion picture medium, creating in what amounted to post-photographs, they became professional photographers.

During the course of his years working with Warhol and after, Malanga shot and produced twelve films of his own.

Malanga's photography spans over four decades. Within the first six years of taking pictures he managed to create three of the most prominent portraits of post-modern photography: Charles Olson for the interview he made with Olson for The Paris Review (1969); Iggy Pop nude in the penthouse apartment they shared one summer weekend (1971); and William Burroughs in front of the corporate headquarters that bears his family name (1975). All in all, he has photographed and archived hundreds of poets and artists over the years. He is also a photographer of a number of firsts, including Herbert Gericke, the last farmer of Staten Island (1981); and Jack Kerouac's typewritten roll for On the Road (1983).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Victor Franko

Trivia

Educated in the Catholic faith as a child, he became an underground poet, and co-founder of The Factory, in New York City.

Assistant director (uncredited) to some films by Andy Warhol.

CD: "Three Weeks with My Dog".

CD: "Gerard Malanga Up from the Archives".

In 1969 he and Andy Warhol founded "Interview" magazine.

In 1985 he was appointed official photo archivist for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Co-authored (with Victor Bockris) "Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story", a definitive biography about The Velvet Underground.

Gerard Joseph Malanga (born March 20, 1943) is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, actor, curator and archivist.

Early life and education Malanga was born in the Bronx in 1943, the only child of Italian immigrant parents. In 1959, at the beginning of his senior year at the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan, Malanga became a regular on Alan Freed's The Big Beat, televised on Channel 5 (WNEW) in New York City. He graduated from high school with a major in Advertising Design (1960).

He enrolled at the University of Cincinnati's College of Art & Design (1960) and dropped out at the end of the Spring semester.

In the fall of 1961, Malanga was admitted to Wagner College in Staten Island on a fellowship. At Wagner he befriended one of his English professors, Willard Maas, and his wife Marie Menken, who became his mentors. In June 1963, he went to work for Andy Warhol and dropped out of Wagner College in 1964.

Career Andy Warhol and The Factory - Malanga worked with Andy Warhol from 1963 to 1970. A February 17, 1992 article in The New York Times referred to him as "Andy Warhol's most important associate." Malanga was introduced to Warhol through Charles Henri Ford.

Malanga was involved in Warhol's silkscreen painting and filmmaking. He acted in the films, including Kiss in 1963, Harlot in 1964, Soap Opera in 1964, Couch in 1964, Vinyl in 1965, Camp in 1965, Chelsea Girls in 1966, and co-produced Bufferin in 1967, in which he reads his poetry, deemed to be the longest spoken-word movie on record at 33-minutes nonstop.

Malanga played a combination of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby in Warhol's film Since (1966). Also in 1966, he choreographed the music of the Velvet Underground for Warhol's multimedia presentation, The Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Malanga and Warhol collaborated on the nearly 500 individual 3-minute Screen Tests, which resulted in a selection for a book of the same name, published by Kulchur Press, in 1967. Neither Warhol or Malanga were photographers at the time. In 1969, Malanga was one of the founding editors, along with Warhol and John Wilcock, of Interview magazine.

In December 1970, Malanga left Warhol's studio to pursue his work in photography. Malanga's photography spans over four decades and includes portraits, nudes and the urban documentation of "New York's Changing Scene." Three of his notable portraits are of Charles Olson for the interview he made with Olson for The Paris Review in 1969, Iggy Pop nude in the penthouse apartment they shared one summer weekend in 1971, and William Burroughs in front of the corporate headquarters that bears his family name in 1975. In total, Malanga has photographed hundreds of poets and artists over the years as well as Herbert Gericke, the last farmer in Staten Island, in 1981, and Jack Kerouac's typewritten roll for On the Road in 1983.

In his introduction to Malanga's first monograph, Resistance to Memory (Arena Editions, 1998), Ben Maddow, a photo historian and poet, said, "Malanga has that great essential virtue of the photographer: humility before the complex splendor of the real thing...Malanga is the photo-historian of this culture." In reviewing Malanga's book two years later, Screen Tests Portraits Nudes 1964-1996 (Steidl), Fred McDarrah remarked that "Malanga is among the elite editors and photographers who have long dazzled and propelled the New York avant garde."

Malanga has shot and produced 12 films. In 2024, Gerard was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

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